Never Quite Enough
by tjmack
Summary: Spoilers for all seasons! It's winter time in Bluebell, when circumstances forces Wade & Zoe to travel back to town together, one car accident later finds two injured passengers and two broken souls might find their way back together.


_**A/N:**_Not quite sure where this came from. Though, I did a little research and learned that Alabama does get at least a little cold, and on occasion every couple of years has the tendency to have at least a decent snow. So while it's probably unlikely to happen, I thought this would be a fun little bonding experience for Zade. Spoilers for all seasons.

* * *

"I can't believe this!" Zoe exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

Wade chuckled from the driver seat, while keeping his eyes firmly on the road. He wouldn't admit it out-loud, and the fact that Zoe hadn't caught on was shocking, but the declining weather had him worried. The snow was falling hard and fast, and he was less than experienced with driving in snow.

"Wade!" Zoe yelled, her eyes glued to the speedometer, as Wade continued to speed down the road.

"What?" He asked, as he pressed his foot firmly against the brake, before attempting to make the curve in the road.

"You are going too fast, and get your foot off the brake. You act like you don't know what you're doing." As she said the words, she realized that she was exactly right. She wasn't in New York, where snow is an almost every day occurrence in the winter time. She was in Bluebell, Alabama. "I should drive."

"Oh, no. I plan on making it back in one piece, Doc. I'll do the driving."

Zoe sighed, "Wade, do you even know how to drive in snow?"

Wade shrugged, as he cautiously lowered his speed. "Not really, but I figure it can't be much harder than driving in pouring rain, right?"

Zoe smacked her forehead hard, "It's a lot harder, Wade! Especially in a pickup truck. We're lucky we haven't slid off the road – or worse, yet. Let me drive, I'm used to it."

"No can do, Doc. Nice try though," he winked at her, before pressing, lighter this time, on the brake. As he turned the wheel of the truck, he felt the tires in the back lock up and start sliding to the right. Making a move to correct the current sliding movement, Wade yanked the wheel hard to the left. It was only after he made the move, that he realized he had made a mistake. The truck over-corrected, the tires squealed, and the last thing he remembered hearing was a scream from his right and bursting glass.

* * *

Wade groaned through the pain, as he popped one eye open. His fingertips grazed his forehead and he cringed at the sticky, wet blood that he felt rolling down the side of his face. Despite the constant ache in his head, Wade lifted his head, and noted that his pickup truck was now effectively in the ditch, smashed rather harshly against a tree. Turning toward his right, he sighed when he saw Zoe's head lulled against the window.

"Zoe!" He yelled out as loud as he could.

Wade was fairly certain that he shouldn't shake her, not until he knew that she hadn't hurt her neck. Instead, he went for the ever annoying, flicking his finger against her cheek. After a moment, she groaned and popped her eyelids open.

"Zoe, are you alright?" She moaned, as she went to move herself away from the window. "Hey, watch your neck or something, right?"

Zoe shot Wade an irritated look, before groaning again. "My neck is fine. My head is another story..." She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the wound on the side of Wade's forehead. "You're definitely going to need stitches." She pointed at his head as spoke, "How bad is the pain?"

Wade shrugged, "I'm fine. How about you?"

Zoe just shook her head, and bit her lip to keep from moaning at the pain it caused. "I'm fine, except that my leg is stuck under the dashboard. Is there any way that you can climb out the back end of the truck and help me with my leg?"

Wade sighed, but nodded. He pulled his legs up onto the driver-side seat, before turning toward the back end of the truck and shoving the small back window open. "Dammit, it's cold." Wade whispered, as he grabbed for the thin jacket he kept shoved behind the driver seat. Pulling it on, he turned toward Zoe, and smiled. "Just sit tight, Doc. I'll have your leg free in no time."

Wade slipped one leg through the window, before cursing loudly, and narrowly fit his second leg and the rest of his body through the window. Shivering, Wade quickly jumped from the back-end of his truck and walked as briskly as he could manage to the passenger-side of the truck. He gave a few good hard yanks on the door, before motioning for Zoe to roll the window down.

"What?" she asked, as she rubbed her arms to keep the cold at bay.

"The door is stuck. You sure it's not locked?"

Zoe huffed, "Of course it's not locked, do I look..." She trailed off, before pulling the lock up on the door. "Sorry." She whispered, before rolling the window back up.

Wade pulled on the door again, and examined the dashboard. The entire front-end of the truck and the driver-side door were all fairly smashed in. He noted the tree just in front of them and figured that at some point in the spinning that his side of the truck must have smashed up against something hard as well.

"I don't know if I can do this on my own, Doc. The front-end is smashed, I think that's why you're leg is stuck."

"Just do whatever you have to do, Wade. We need to try to find cell reception. We need to find help."

Wade nodded his head, "I'll do what I can, Doc. Just hold still." He gave her look of apology before he started yanking back on the dashboard. Zoe cried out in pain, and after the third tug, Wade noticed blood pouring down the side of Zoe's leg. "Hey, Doc. I'm fairly certain that I should stop." He pointed at her leg as he spoke.

"Ah, dammit." She sighed, before looking at Wade. "Okay, I need to know where the blood is coming from. I need to know if an artery has been hit. So help me with that, okay?" Wade nodded. Feel with your fingertips to find the source of the bleeding, once you do, show me on my other leg when the wound is.

Wade carefully felt his way up Zoe's leg, once his fingers rounded her knee, he felt the deep laceration just above her kneecap. "It's right above your knee, Zoe."

She nodded, and thought for a moment. "Okay, I don't think it hit an artery, but it could have blown a vein, which could explain all the blood. If that's the case, the bleeding should slow down on it's own, but I need you to wrap something over the wound to try to keep it from getting infected."

Wade nodded, though he didn't feel entirely comfortable with the task. He ripped a thin strip of fabric from his thin, cotton jacket and wrapped it around her upper leg. When he looked back at her, she smiled softly.

"Good job, Wade. If you try to get my leg free again, the dashboard might cut it again. This time it could be worse, so you need to walk back to the highway and see if you can flag someone down or get a signal on your cell."

Wade shook his head, "No."

Zoe's eyebrow lifted carefully, as she gazed at him. "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean that you're injured, we're in a wooded area – I am not leaving you here alone, do you understand me?"

Zoe groaned, "Now is not the time for you to go all alpha-male on me, Wade. We need help. We both need a doctor... the only way that's going to happen is if you go back to the highway and find us some help."

Wade crossed his arms over his chest defiantly, "Or, we can wait until someone notices that we never made it back, and they send someone out to find us."

"You idiot! You do realize that someone might figure out that maybe we decided to stay put until this freak snowstorm blew over?"

"Well, maybe that would have been the smarter move when I mentioned it before we left Mobile!"

"Now, is not the time, Wade. Just do as I say, please."

Wade sighed, "Fine, but if a wild animal comes out here and tries to eat you, I don't want to hear a thing about it."

"Fine!"

With that, Wade took off. The cold wind whipped so hard, it felt like concrete was hitting his chest. He hoped that he would get a signal quickly, because he knew he couldn't take much more of this biting cold.

* * *

Zoe groaned, as a body jerking shiver ran the length of her spine. She was used to the icy cold temperatures in New York, she didn't like them, but she was used to them. However, this bone-chilling cold was different somehow. Maybe it was because she didn't expect it to be this cold in Alabama, or maybe it was the fact that the driver's side window was busted out. Either way, she was freezing and knew that it wouldn't take long before she became hyperthermic. As she tapped her fingers against her thighs, she counted the seconds away. Every few minutes she'd peek a look at her watch, and groaned as more time passed. At the hour mark, she started to get worried. Wade didn't have the proper protection against the cold, and the wound on his head wasn't promising.

Part of her wanted to try to free herself from the truck again and go looking for him. Yet, the other part told her to sit tight, that Wade could come back with help at any moment, and it wouldn't do any good if she was missing when he returned. However, she couldn't shake the horrible feeling that settled into the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right.

With her hands as guides, Zoe felt under the dashboard, and noted that the sharp edge that had sliced her leg open the first time was still low enough that she could try to slip her leg free without fear of slicing her femoral artery. Gritting her teeth, Zoe slid over toward the driver seat and twisted her leg sideways, groaning as the dashboard cut into her leg again. With a deep breath pulled in between her teeth, she pushed up on the dashboard with her free leg, and pulled her pinned leg out as quickly as she could.

She gasped at the pain as the cold air hit her newly opened wound. She looked down at her leg and frowned. Aside from the two fairly deep wounds, her leg was purpling in places. If it wasn't broken, then it was bruised something awful. Zoe definitely knew that she would be lucky if she could bear any weight on it. None of that mattered though, she had to get the hell out of that truck, she had to find Wade.

A quick glance over the tattered and broken truck told her that there wasn't anything she could fashion into a tourniquet to stem the bleeding wound. With a low growl, Zoe ripped a thin strip of fabric from her jacket and tied it around her leg. With her injured leg pulled up slightly, Zoe slipped back over to the passenger side and opened the door. Carefully, she slid out of the seat and moaned as pain crawled up her leg and back down. She had to ignore the pain, she had to find Wade – she had to find help.

* * *

With every step she took, pain coursed through her leg. Every second she was out in the frigid air, she could feel herself slowly becoming numb to the cold. Hypothermia was starting to set in, and she knew that neither her or Wade would last long out in these temperatures. Not in the thin flimsy jackets that they were wearing.

"Wade!?" Zoe started to call out, her throat dry causing her voice to crack. A few steps further, and Zoe could see a still figure lying on the concrete just a few feet ahead of her. "Oh God, Wade!" She yelled, as she quickened her pace. Gritting her teeth against the ache in her upper thigh, Zoe slid down on the cold concrete next to Wade. She turned him over, and groaned. He was unconscious, and the wound on his head was still bleeding. Pulling his head into her lap, and brushing her fingers through his hair, she sighed. "Don't worry, Wade. You're going to be okay. I'm going to find us help."

Zoe pulled out Wade's phone, and looked upward at the dark sky with a thankful smile on her face. His phone wasn't dead, and he had reception. One bar wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. Zoe quickly dialed, and waited. She knew she should call Joel, he was probably worried about her, but she needed someone that would be able to send help quickly.

"Lavon!" Zoe sighed in happily.

"Zoe? I can barely hear you, where are you?"

Zoe took a deep breath, and hoped with everything inside of her that Lavon would be able to understand what she was about to say. "Wade and I had an accident on our way back from Mobile. Wade's truck is totaled, and we're stranded out in the cold. I have some lacerations on my leg that need treatment, and Wade's lost consciousness. We need help, Lavon."

"You need help? Where are you?"

Zoe still didn't know what they called the old country road that lead to the back end of town. The only reason that they had taken that route instead of the highway, was fear of getting stuck in traffic. "We're on that old country road that leads to the back end of town."

"Alright, I know where you're talking about. I'll send out the sheriff and an ambulance. Hang tough, Zoe. It'll be a bit since it's so nasty out."

"Just be as fast as you can, Lavon. It's really cold out here."

"I will do what I can."

Zoe said her thanks, and hung up the phone. "Help's coming, Wade." Zoe whispered, as she brushed her fingers through his hair again. "I never should have made you go out. I should have known that you were in worse shape than you were letting on. Please be okay."

Zoe felt tears well in her eyes, as she continued to run her finger through Wade's hair. It was in that moment, faced with the possibility that she might lose him, that Zoe realized how much she still cared for the bartender. How much of a profound effect he still had on her. She had tried to fight it, to deny it, but in that moment she couldn't deny it any longer. She was in love with Wade Kinsella. Normally that would scare her to death, after how badly he had hurt her, but she just felt relieved.

After a few moments, Zoe felt Wade shivering severely and groaned. She was hoping to hear sirens or see flashing lights. Instead she was only met with darkness. If she didn't do something soon, Wade wouldn't make it until the ambulance arrived. Without a second thought, Zoe ripped her jacket off and draped it over Wade's shaking form. She knew that alone wasn't going to do enough to help him. Laying down next to him, shaking at the frozen concrete that seemed to seep straight through her long sleeved shirt and straight down into her bones. She wrapped her body around Wade's. Neither of their body temperatures were very high, the prolonged exposure to the cold was quickly lowering both of their core temperatures, but together they would hopefully be able to share what body heat that was remaining.

As she waited for help to come, Zoe felt her eyes droop closed. Falling asleep was bad, and she knew that but she couldn't fight it any longer. As she gave up the fight, the last thing she heard was the shrill cry of sirens in the distance. Her last thought was that Lavon had come through and saved their lives.

* * *

_**Two Days Later**_

Zoe smiled at Joel, as he fixed her pillow. She was waiting for the doctor to release her from the hospital, and while she knew that she needed to end things with Joel, now wasn't the time.

"How are you feeling?" Joel asked, as he grabbed a hold of her hand.

After her realization on the side of the road two nights earlier, Zoe quickly realized just how wrong Joel was for her. She had blinded herself to Joel, and while she did care about him he was absolutely the opposite of the kind of guys she typically went for. Which was exactly why she had gone after Joel in the first place. He was safe. He wasn't likely to hurt her, which made her lips pucker. He wouldn't ever hurt her, but she was about to break his heart.

She just sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, I guess."

"What happened exactly, and why were you with Wade?"

Zoe's eyes drifted close, before she found the words to say. "I had a conference to attend in Mobile. They called me and told me that I wouldn't have to attend because of the storm that was going to blow in. I just figured it was all hype, I mean it is Alabama after all. Apparently, they get freak storms like this every couple of years, at least according to Lavon." A yawn ripped through Zoe's mouth, before she continued. "I asked Wade to take me because it would be late when started back to Bluebell, and I wanted to make sure that I would make it back to town the same night."

Joel nodded his head, "The doctor told me that the paramedic's found you lying on top of Wade..."

Zoe pinched the bridge of her nose. "It was below freezing out there, Joel. All Wade had to protect him against the cold was a thin jacket. I don't know how long he had been unconscious on the ground before I found him, but there was nothing but ice and snow on that concrete. He was becoming hypothermic. I tried to give me my jacket, but it didn't help. The only thing that would keep our temperatures from dropping into dangerous categories was for us to share body heat."

Joel ran his fingers through his hair, "Alright. That makes sense, but just answer me one last question, Zoe." She merely stared at him, already annoyed by all the questions. "I get that you were laying on top of him to share body heat, fine, but that doesn't explain why your fingers were in his hair."

Zoe groaned in frustration. "Really? That's what you're worried about? The fact that my fingers were in his hair? Just asked me what you really want to ask me, Joel."

Joel stood up and started to pace. "Alright, fine. I will. Are you still in love with him?"

Zoe sighed, her head hanging. "I'm sorry. I tried to not be, Joel. For the longest time, I didn't want to be. He hurt me so bad that I thought it would be impossible for me to ever trust again. Then I met you – and you were safe. You wouldn't ever hurt me, and I just – I let myself believe that I was in love with you, but in reality I was focusing my love for him on you."

Joel rubbed his chin for a moment, before throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Thank you for being honest, but I think you know that I need to leave. This – us, it's over."

Zoe nodded, "I am sorry, Joel."

"I know you are. I hope he makes you happy." Joel said over his shoulder, before disappearing through the door.

* * *

Wade groaned, as he carefully opened his eyes. The light from the window bore into his retinas and caused the slow, steady pounding in his head to increase to what felt like bongo drums. Wade carefully raised both of his hands to his temples and began to massage. As he did so he realized that his forehead was wrapped in thick gauze. He tried his hardest to remember what had happened, and why he was in the hospital, but nothing came to him.

"Hey, you're awake." He heard a familiar voice call from his left hand side.

Craning his head as slowly as he could, Wade smile softly. As he made a move to speak, everything came flooding back to him. The snowstorm, the frigid temperatures ... the accident.

"God, are you alright?" Wade asked finally.

Zoe nodded softly, "Yeah, just a couple of lacerations. Nothing a few stitches couldn't fix."

"If that's it, then why're you still in the hospital? I mean, they wouldn't have kept you for that, would they?"

Zoe sighed, "Well, by the time help arrived, we were both on the verge of hypothermia. So, I had to stay for two days for observation."

Wade nodded, "But you're alright?"

Zoe smiled, "I'm fine, Wade."

Wade's eyebrows crinkled slightly, "Wait, you said you had to stay for two days." Zoe nodded, "So, how long has it been?"

Zoe chuckled lightly at Wade's confusion, "It's mid-afternoon of the second day. You've been unconscious since about an hour after the accident. You hit your head pretty hard, the doctor said you've got a nasty concussion and that you'll have to be monitored for a few weeks. Since I don't have anywhere else to stay at the moment, Lavon so kindly offered to allow me to stay in your spare bedroom, since you need monitoring anyway."

Wade grinned widely at that, "See, I knew you couldn't stay away, Doc."

"Oh, yeah. You're fine." Zoe chuckled, as she pulled herself up out of the chair she was sitting on. The grimace on her face, told Wade far more than her words ever did. Her injury might be less severe than his, but it didn't mean it was less painful. "Lavon's outside waiting on me. Your doctor said that he wanted to keep you at least one more night for observation. So, I'll see you in a day or two."

Wade reached out his hand, and caught Zoe's arm. "Wait, what did you mean, you have nowhere else to stay? What about Joel?"

Zoe shrugged, before brushing a stray strand of hair from Wade's face. "We broke up. It seems that I might have feelings for someone else." With that, she turned away from Wade and limped as quietly as she could from his room.

As the door fell shut behind her, Wade smiled softly as her words sank in. He knew that she would come back to him eventually.


End file.
